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Wednesday, March 1, 2017

How to Knit Socks. Tutorial. Knit Socks with Snowflake Pattern.

I've started my knitting "career" with socks. I think I was 12 years old. Since then I've knitted hundreds different socks, I'm not kidding - hundreds. And socks are still one of my favorites to knit. Not to mention - to gift during holiday season. Yes, I'm that aunt/sister-in-law/co-worker who gifts handmade socks for Christmas. So if you have similar passion for socks, I'm sure you'd like this simple Snowflake pattern.

5 double-pointed knitting needles size 4US/3.5mm.Yes, guilty, I prefer knitting with smaller size needles. Medium Weight yarn usually calls for size 5-8US needles, but I like the way it looks much better with smaller size; it is a matter of personal experience and liking. So please don't be discouraged by mine or yarn label preferences, they are mere suggestions, not set in stone rules.

Size: one size fits most? True, but: I'm size 9,5, so I knit socks that would fit someone from size 8 to 10.

Pink-Gray Snowflake Socks:

Cast on 48 sts and work in ribbing pattern: purl1, knit1, dividing stitches equally on four needles - 12 sts on each needle.

Knit 11 rows. Continue with Snowflake Pattern Chart 1: row 12 is row 1 of the chart where shaded cells - are purl sts, unshaded - knit sts. Size of the pattern is 24 sts wide, so you are going to repeat pattern twice in each row.

Continue the heel:
Divide 24 sts on 3 needles - 8 sts each. Knit 1st row, continuing slip-stitch pattern, working with first 17 sts. Last st from second/middle needle and first st from third needle knit together. Turn to the wrong side and purl 7 sts, and again -purl last st of middle and first sts of first needle together. Turn to the right side. To check yourself: middle needle going to have 8 sts, but sts on first and last needle going to decrease with each row until none left.

When only 8 sts are left on the middle needle, its time to pick up stitches on a side of the heel flap. I only pick up 8 stitches on each side (the amount I "lost" while knitting the heel, you may have a slightly different approach, its OK, there are a lot of different ways of knitting socks).

Foot: knit 8 sts of the heel, pick up 8 stitches from the side of the heel. Here you are going to merge with sts left before we started working on a heel. Pick up 8 sts from another side of the heel. Now you are ready to knit foot, back to familiar "tube" knitting. Knit for 41 row. Here is a spot where you can adjust the size of your sock. As a rule, I knit until foot reaches and covers my pinkie. And then I start decreasing sts to create a toe.

Toe: I decrease stitches in the end of first needle, in the beginning of second: in the end of third needle and in the beginning of forth, last needle. When only 2 sts left on each needle, I cut the yarn, weave it though the stitches and pull close. Done.

To knit gray-turquoise socks:
Cast on 48 sts of gray yarn, continue ribbing pattern (purl1, knit1) for 24 rows. In the next row knit all stitches with gray, follow with the row of turquoise color (all knit).
Continue with Snowflake pattern Chart 2. Finish with all knit sts of turquoise color. Switch to gray, knit 4 rows and then in the following row start knitting heel as described above. In knitting toes I've switched to turquoise yarn.